51lbs gone!! Progress pics!!!

[crisstal]

Hi guys
managed to dig up a pic of when I was around 224lbs....hard to find a clear picture of when I was that siz because I was usually hiding behind people in photos!!
Weigh in today and I am now officially over the 50lb mark!!! so thought I would take a comparison photo for you guys,...... still a way to go but I can see soo much of a difference now
....sorry about the current pic lol got grandad to try take a photo using my blackberry!!! 81 years olds and new technology!!! oh dear

[mrshall]

You look great! Keep up the good work

[pecanbunch]

Congrats! You look awesome! I am sooooo wanting to get in the 170's. Maybe this weekend...

[Heather165]

You look fabulous!!

[tiredofbnfat]

Congrats! You look good! Keep up the good work!

[Ally11]

Congrats on 50 lbs loss keep up the good work =)

[arsesta]

WOW you look AMAZING! and you only started in April! Such an amazing transformation.

Was it just phen? Or diet/exercise too? It'd be great if you could share what you did.

Thanks!

[whyme]

You look fantastic. Hard work has definitely paid off for you. Congrats!!!

[tinstar_1977]

Awesome job darlin! Keep it up.

[shirleyspixies]

Great job! you look wonderful, keep it up!

[Mrsace13]

50 pounds since April???

WOW!!!!!!!

[robyn46]

You look fabulous. Keep up the good work.

[curvychic23]

Congrats girl, you look AMAZIIIING Keep up all the hard work and you'll be at your next goal in no time!!

[Blizzie]

Congrats, Cristal! Great, great job! I applaud your accomplishments!
Totally off topic, but is the "before" pic taken in Las Vegas? Just wondering because the background looks like Vegas. Let me know.

[crisstal]

hahaha aww no the before pic isnt in Vegas...I wish!!! Unfortunately it was just a black cab in London! lol
Thankyou for all the nice comments.... and thank you to all that post on the phen forum.... there has always been someone to answer any questions I might have or to share information...plus the encouragement and support on these boards and the understanding that everyone has of our journey that our family/friends may not understand.

I have learnt a lot from jus reading posts on here. Changing my eating habits was the biggest change for me. That eating right is a lifestyle not jus for a few months to shift some pounds. Not getting frustrated when the scale showed down was important for me. I lost a lot my first week but after that its been a steady 2lbs ish a week since then and I am happy with that. It all adds up! Exercise is still my downfall!!! You guys make me feel so lazy lol.... I try to get in my walking but teaching lil ones all day Im usually so shattered when I get home that exercise is off the cards..........my new goal is to up the exercise....its so important to lose the weight and to keep it off.
Never skip meals. Breakfast is essential. Your body needs fuel. I have 3 healthy meals a day plus fruit to snack on throughout. Water, Water, Water...another challenging one for me! Make sure you're eating enough calories. Lower than 1200 a day can be counter productive and make the scales freeze coz ur body will go in to starvation mode. Dont be too hard on yourself. If you slip up thats ok just get back on it right away....I ate almost a whole medium bag of popcorn at the cinema the other day!!! Not good.... in the past that wouldve made me feel so guilty that I wouldve given up and thought what the heck and eaten more and more. Now I just put it down as a treat and move on. My wine at the weekends I dont even count lol everything in moderation. I dont really count calories or anything I just try to be aware of the food choices that I make and make healthy decisions. The days of fried food, crisps, chocolate, cakes etc seem a distant memory lol


anyway sorry to blab on lol hope that was useful....if u wana know anything or ask anything feel free x x x

[Michelle89]

Wow! u look fantastic! Weird question... Did u lose a lot of your breast? I feel like they are getting smaller and smaller everyday and I'm no where near my goal weight! lol. Just wondering if I'm going to be flat chested by the time I get there ;P

[crisstal]

hahaha it wasnt until i saw the before and after that I realized the difference in my breasts! they look soooooooooo much smaller!! if only we could choose where to lose it from!! my luck is boobs shrinkin and tummy still there!!! Shrinking boobs is a small price for me to pay though I feel soooo much better about myself. My breasts do shrink though. Last time I lost weight I got down to 140 and had almost no breasts! was very weird when Id always been bigger and had big breasts! Dont think I wana go that low this time but I think Im just gonna have to accept that my breasts are gonna shrink with me lol

[jenstryingto]

congrats on the weightloss!!! im getting ready to start phen again. i have a question for ya please. do you take 37.5's or just half? i took phen a few months back and only took half. i saw results but nothing like yours. you look awesome!!!

[crisstal]

aww thanx. Im on 30mg tablets. They seem to work fine for me. Recently Ive been taking half or not taking them for a few days to try and get used to not taking them... was weird at first feeling hunger lol with phen Im aware Im hungry and need to eat but dont feel actual hunger n wanting of food as often.

See how it goes really its whatever works for you. Phen works so differently for everyone. The main thing is to use it as a tool to get you in to the right eating habits. Its not phen that will make you lose weight it just helps with the hunger and the cravings. It is YOU that will make you lose weight

A change in lifestyle is what makes the big results. Healthy eating, being more active...sounds boring I kno lol but phen has taught me that thats really the only way to be successful. That this is a lifestyle change in the way that I eat and activity levels and not a temporary measure to shift the pounds.

[daniela326]

WONDERFUL! I can't wait be able to post this too - u must be so proud of urself

How long did it take u?

[DivinelyTee]

I started at 223/4 so this is truly exciting and inspiring to see. I congratulate you wholeheartedly. If the concept of linked fate has any credence then your continued success is mine and mine is yours; It's a we thing! So, keep it up!!

As for the talk of boobies. I told my doctor the very first day she gave me the phen perscription, that once all this weight is gone a boob lift is in order!! Most people experience the boob deflate. Sadly, with the shape breast that I have, that look is a noooooo nooooo.

How do folks get those comparison photos? I want to make one. I guess I could look it up online if it is complicated.

[RACHJADAJADEN]

YOU LOOK AMAZING. How often did you work out and what type of food did you eat? I work out every week day with weekends off. I started July 25th and I have lost eight pounds. I notice I use the bathroom a whole lot??? Just number 1. Any thoughts???

Rach

[crisstal]

Thank you for all the replies and nice comments... I will try to answer the questions asked......

Comparison pics I didnt really know how to do so I just joined two pics together using photoshop, saved it as a jpeg and then uploaded it on here.

Hahahaha the boob lift I am considering. Ive never been happy with mine. One is ALOT bigger than the other and theyve never stood up on their own!!! Not really gonna look in to it until I get to where I wanna be though. Want to be happy with my size before I start thinking about surgery!

Hahahah ohh the joys of the bathroom lol needing to pee ALL the time initially was a little irritating and not being able to do number 2 is not fun. The peeing does get better though once the body gets used to the new water intake. Plus for me it was sooo much worse with the peeing because from Jan to June I was wearing the ardyss body magic all day!!! Trying to get the hooks undone and done up to go to the toilet is insane!

I started on April 6th so to date I have been on phen for 17/18 weeks. About 4 months.
I eat pretty healthily I think. well it seems to be working for me. Im not very good at variety and hate cooking so I eat pretty much the same thing most days. Even when I was overeating and gaining weight I was eating pretty much the same unhealthy foods everyday so for me it was really about being able to make the right food choices.
My day generally consists of:
breakfast: cereal(if im not working) if im working...belvita breakfast biscuits or a pack of oat cakes and try to have some fruit with it aswell
breakfasts I find tricky as I find I really dont have time in the mornings and I dont like breakfast so the breakfast biscuits or oatcakes are good as I can eat them as Im preparing for my day.
Lunch I generally have a tortilla wrap with chicken or ham and have lettuce and barbecue sauce. I try to have a yogurt and some fruit with that to.
Dinner is usually salmon salad with beetroot/ salmon and heaps of frozen mixed veg(cooked lol) with gravy or a birdseye oven bake peri chicken breast with heaps of mixed veg, gravy and a couple of yorkshire puds if im treating myself lol
If im out i sometimes treat myself to a subway. Turkey breast, peri chicken or chicken terriyaki usually and as a treat I am partial to a Nandos chicken salad with a side of rice or a Nandos pitta(no mayo)
if im hungry i usually snack on fruit...apples and pears are always in my fridge.

and weekends i stick with my healthy eating but I allow myself to drink wine if Im out with my girls and try to dance it off lol

working out!! hhmmmmm i would love to say im ultra dedicated and workout all the time but unfortunately i am still trying to jump on the exercise bandwagon! So many of u guys make me feel so guilty with your 30 day shred, muscle training and other various work outs!
Ive been teaching in reception(im english I think thats kindergarten for americans lol) so I work 10 hour days and am running round after them all day lol im sooo shattered when i get home its effort just to stay awake!! I bought a wii to see if that would help seen as i wudnt have to go out to exercise but shamefully I do not use it anywhere near as often as I should!! I do try to walk alot...walking is great exercise and doesnt even feel like real exercise. Weekends I try to walk to my shopping centre have a wander n walk back. Its about a 45 min walk so there and back and walking around mounts up the activity levels.

Today I walked quite a lot and went to the park and played badmington...was soooo fun to mess about and I was sweating and worn out without it feeling like 'exercise.' I need to start weight training as my arms are very wobbly lol and more muscle mass means that once I get to the maintaining phase I will actually be able to eat more food without gaining weight.(healthy foods lol)
I also want to start dance classes because theyre such good exercise and sooo fun. May join the gym soon to. we'll see.
I basically just try to stay as active as possible. Moving about with children in my class as much as possible, walking as much as possible, dancing as much as possible when out with my friends. Just trying to find things that I will be able to keep up as a lifestyle.
I want this to be permanent and my way of life so I need to find ways of doing things so that I can keep it up and not give up....................
........................phen is great and the support and advice here is fantastic and if I can do it ANYONE can.....we can do this.....we WILL do this.....
................................plus I find ignoring friends and families comments helps lol I think when people are used to seeing you 'big' when you lose weight theyre very complimentary initially but eventually comments will creep in about how you should stop where you are now or trying to persuade you to eat something unhealthy when out.....its about how we feel within ourselves..... people without weight issues do not understand. Ive been told by a few people that Im fine how I am and shouldnt lose too much!!! Im barely out of the obese bmi for goodness sake!!! and I can see my flabby arms and rolls over my clothes!!!! Happy that Im about a 14 maybe 14/16 bottom(think that might be 10/12 american sizes i dont know!) but I also know that I have at least a stone and a half to go and a hell of a lot of toning lol

its all about how YOU feel not how others perceive you.....we are doing this for us and we WILL succeed and look damnnnn hot lol I DO NOT want to be the 'fat friend' anymore lol xxxxxxxxxxxx sorry this post is a bit long.... if u read it then thankyou x x